The article presents the first Russian annoteted translation political work Fujiwara Atsumitsu (1063-1144) on the situation in the state and the risks of its destruction.

The law code Yuki-shi shin-hatto (1556) was created by Yuki Masakatsu, one of the Sengoku daimyo of Kanto region. It reflected the aspirations of daimyo to establish strong vassal and military system. However these pretensions were ill founded, because in Yuki clan powerful vassals enjoyed considerable autonomy and even entered into diplomatic relations with Yuki enemies.

The article is devoted to girls’ education in the Tokugawa Period based on a book of a famous Confuсianist philosopher and educator Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714). His “Precepts for girls”, the most popular and for a long time one of the indispensable article for a young bride, represents the moral sense of the people of his days.

According to the first project of welcome ceremony for the Japanese mission it was supposed to take place at the Warsawskiy railway station. There were also a few projects of audience with the Russian Emperor. According to the first project it was proposed to give an audience at Tzarskoe Selo’s Palace, according to the second project - at Peterhof’s Palace, according to the third project - at the Winter Palace’s Throne Hall. Alexander II ordered to give audience at the Winter Palace. On the 15th June 1862 it was finally decided that the mission would come by sea on board of the Russian naval ship. Therefore the place of welcome ceremony was changed from Warswskiy railway station to a pier at the England's embankment. The farewell audience was given at Tzarskoe Selo’s Palace on Sunday, the 2nd September 1862.

Permanent and significant Japanese labor presence in the fishing industry in Far East of Russia was the most important issue in the Russian-Japanese relations history at the end of 19th - the first half of the 20th century. The Japanese labor in the Russian, Japanese fishing and fish-processing plants was important factor in the economic and political development of Japan and Eastern Russia. In this article the history of Japanese labor beginning, development and collapse in the fishing industry in the Far East of Russia is considered in the context of the history of Russian-Japanese relations.

In 1908 Russian mass media spread rumours about the abuse of Russian students in Tokyo Orthodox Seminary. These rumours were a fake but it forced Nicholas of Japan and the Bishop Sergey (Tikhomirov) to publish articles to give a true picture of the real educational conditions. These articles were forgotten for a long time.

The article is devoted to poetry and poetic career of prominent literary figure of the Heian-Kamakura period Kamo-no Chomei (1155-1216). Kamo no Chomei is widely known for his celebrated essay Hojoki, but his life before he became a recluse was a life of “professional” poet. For the first time he participated in the oficial utaawase in 1175, and in 1181 completed a book of his own poems called Kamo no Chōmei-shu. In the very beginning of the 13th century Kamo no Chomei was invited to became the member of Wakadokoro. In 1200-1203 he participated in more than 15 utaawase. The article is based primarily on waka by Kamo no Chomei and his work on poetry Mumyosho, written around 1212. The article contains the translation of 21 waka and portions from Mumyosho.

The article deals with the Japanese Buddhist view on waka poetry discussed in Shasekishū by Mujū Ichien (13th c.).

This paper deals with the book “Nihon Fukei Ron” (“Landskapes of Japan”, 1894) by Shiga Shigetaka. In this book Shiga claims that Nature of Japan is most beautiful in the world. The book was of great success and the ideas of the author about Nature had a big impact on the shaping of identification of the Japanese.

The target of this article is to put into the scholar’s usage the Japanese notes of the famous Russian war-artist Vasily Vasilievich Vereschagin. Originally, those notes were written by Vereschagin for the St. Petersbourg’s newpaper named “Birjhevye vedomosti”. They were not republished since 1904-1905. Such notes have the historical and country-knowledge value. The artist wrote them just before the Russian-Japanese war started.

The main object of this paper is to present a collection of the so-called “shikishi”, a specific Japanese form of autograph. Abe Yoshie - the stenographer and a member of the Japanese embassy, collected these shikishi in Moscow in 1930th. During her stay in Russia Abe once met with the brilliant Russian/Soviet harpist Clara Erdeli and began to take harp lessons. Afterwards she became a first Japanese harpist and after her return to Japan, she had founded a harp playing school in her country. Among those who had written the autographs on the shikishi we can find the most famous representatives of the Soviet literary and art elite of 1930th, as well as the most prominent scholars in the field of the Japanese studies. However, soon after writing that these scholars became the victims of the repressions of the Stalin regime - several of them were accused of espionage and arrested, and one, the brilliant scholar N.A. Nevsky, was executed. Thus the story of the “shikishi” collection turns into the story of the fates of those who had left their autographs on the Japanese “colored papers” and then were arrested on the false pretext of being acquainted with the “Japanese spy” Abe Yoshie.

The article deals with Japonology and communication theory and observes the opposite character of Japanese (ritual) and European (transmission) system of personal communication. The author estimates influence of traditional culture of communication in post-industrial Japan.

The aim of the article is to show the influence of the Soviet documental films on the works of the best Japanese artist Kamei Fumio, who lived in the USSR from 1930 to 1931. The experience of the Soviet documental cinema of the end of 1920th - the beginning of 1930th was interesting not only for the government of Japan, but for all the artists in this branch, who thought about the more prominent political role for the documental films.

The article analyses the results of elections to the upper House of the Japanese Parliament, held on July 21, 2013. The author underlines that the main reason for the victory of Liberal-Democratic Party lies not in the high level of its electoral support, but in the fragmentation of the opposition. The paper examines in detail the key scenarios for further development of the party-political system of Japan, including the formation of the classic two-party system and the rule of a coalition government with multiple attendance.

General elections in December 2012 marked the retirement of the generation of political leader who had entered that stage in the period of 1993-1994 reforms. The article is devoted to the study of the origin of the generation of “grey-headed revolutionaries”, its development and its impact on domestic politics over the 20 years period.

The article reveals decentralization process in Japan, initial steps of the Abe Cabinet to revitalize local communities within the course for economic revival of Japan, as well as prospects for local government reform. It also exposes interests of various groups of influence and key points of the ongoing administrative reform, which is expected to get a new impetus as the LDP return to power has finally brought a presumably long period of political stability.

S. Abe declared a program of renewal of economic policies and offered a number of new guidelines for the nation. The “New Deal” is badly needed because Japan has lost leadership in Pacific Asia after two decades of price deflation and economic stagnation. Japan’s demographic trends are unfavorable. Population is rapidly ageing, and the potential of economic growth based on domestic investment and consumer demand is low. Infusions of money from the state budget gave no positive effect and merely increased the public debt. The program presented by S. Abe, named “abenomics”, sets goals and gives guidelines for overcoming deflation. It is a pledge to create new fields for domestic capital investment and to return the economy to the course of economic growth.

High quality of Japanese products is a result of a combination of three elements - high technological level of production, specific features of the organization of production process and Japanese labor force. Specific quality of Japanese labor force, have been formed under the influence of national culture, plays a decisive role.

The article focuses on the fact that the issues of corporate social responsibility affect not only the sphere of economy, governance and management, but also the culture, religion and philosophy. Analyzing as examples, the slogans of some Japanese companies and the declarations of the business communities, the author traces and describes the mental paradigms and traditional values, which are related to the formulation of ideas of corporate social responsibility in Japan. According to the author, the transfer to the Japanese soil CSR principles and mechanisms facilitated by the fact that these new technologies are seen as an extension of its own traditions, Japanese CSR standards are not only set from the outside, but spontaneously and flexibly formulated within its own social and cultural space.

The housing problem in Japan has been subsequently solved by means of long-term, low-interest rates mortgages and subsidies, public construction initiatives and company houses offerings. Mainstream of government housing policy and the preferences of the majority of the Japanese society was to create the society of private owners. This goal was achieved. The housing system became one of the significant factors of Japan's modernization, economic growth and new lifestyle. Nevertheless, economic, social and demographical changes, particularly during the last two decades, resulted in the transformation of the traditional housing policy to the market-oriented one. This will gradually intensify social inequality in Japan.

Japan has long been a prominent supplier of capital to Russian market and currently ranks among the top investors to Russian economy. The article allows authors to give general description of Japanese investment strategy in Russia, to highlight specific features of the most successful joint projects, to assess the possibility of further expansion of investment cooperation, and to note promising areas and efficient methods for attracting Japanese capital into Russian economy.

The main aim of this paper is to examine the changes in public attitude and perceptions of Japanese/Russian students towards Russia/Japan during previous five years. The empirical data used for the paper are based on polls carried out by author in 2007 and in 2012 at the Universities in Japan and Russia.